Table of Contents

Muscle fibre types: grouping fibres by myosin heavy-chain (MHC) composition; functional properties of fibres containing different myosin heavy-chain profiles; fibre types and performance. Motoneurons and the muscle units they innervate: the muscle unit and muscle unit types; the motoneuron component of the motor unit; the Heckman-Binder model of motor unit recruitment; motor unit recruitment during different types of voluntary contractions. Neuromuscular fatigue: two basic fatigue mechanisms involving the nervous system - neuromuscular transmission failure and decreased motoneuron activity; reduced motoneuron activity during various types of contractions; evidence from reduced animal preparations on mechanisms of neuromuscular fatigue. Endurance training of the neuromuscular system: muscle adaptations; the neuromuscular junction; motoneuron adaptations to endurance training; spinal cord adaptations to endurance training. Strength training: acute effects of strength training on protein synthesis and degradation; the chronic effect of resistance overload on muscle phenotype; neural effects of resistance training. Neuromuscular responses to decrease in normal activity: general principles underlying neuromuscular responses to reduced activity; models of decreased neuromuscular usage.

About the Author

Philip Gardiner, PhD, is currently a professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He also is an associate member of the school of physical and occupational therapy at McGill University and associate researcher at the institute de kinesitherapie at the Free University of Brussels.

For 25 years, Dr. Gardiner has conducted and published research pertaining to the effects of physical activity on the neuromuscular system, and his work has appeared in leading physiology journals. He is president of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.

The former editor of the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, Dr. Gardiner obtained his doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Alberta at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.